That’s one expensive piece of plastic.
One day after being named an All-Star starter, Stephen Curry was hit with a $25,000 fine for throwing his mouthpiece into the stands on Wednesday night, a move done in frustration that got him ejected from the Warriors game against the Grizzlies.
Curry threw his mouthpiece after Jordan Poole launched a shot with 13 seconds left on the shot clock, with Curry clapping for the ball next to him and wanting to kill time. Frustrated at Poole’s decision to shoot too soon, Curry flung his mouthpiece into the stands — and past the vision of an official, who ejected him on the spot.
It’s the third time in his career Curry has been ejected from a game, and all three times came from throwing his mouthpiece away. The previous two times were in Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals in Cleveland and on Oct. 21, 2017 against the Grizzlies, when he threw it at a ref. Curry was remorseful for his reaction after the game.
“It was really crucial time of the game,” Curry said. “And the way our season is going, there’s questions about the heightened sense of urgency, of every detail matters and when you want something really bad, like just getting a win, fourth-quarter execution, clutch-time type situation, all that stuff does matter.
“So I reacted in a way that got us, put myself out of a game, put the team in a tough place but the intention and the energy around what matters in the sense of winning, that’s what it’s all about. Thankfully we all responded, or my teammates responded extremely well.”
The Warriors beat the Grizzlies without Curry, thanks to Poole’s last-second layup after making a back-door cut on an inbounds play. Curry stood in the hallway to celebrate the win with his teammates, and Poole jokingly threw his own mouthpiece upon seeing Curry.
Curry, though, didn’t appear to be in as much of a mood for laughs and said afterward, “That was like one of those, ‘Too soon’ jokes.”
